Rain threatens new year party for east coast revellers

Sydney's fireworks should be free of major rain, but revellers further north may not be so lucky. Photo: AAP
Another year is ending and Australians are poised to ring in 2025 with typical style and fanfare.
But what was expected to be an almost perfect evening weatherwise is now threatening to deliver spoiling downpours for some revellers.
âIt will be a little cooler along the east coast with the risk of some showers and thunderstorms,â according to Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Miriam Bradbury.
âIn fact, parts of southeast Queensland and northeast NSW may see severe thunderstorms bringing heavy falls for New Yearâs Eve afternoon and early evening.â
Major city celebrations should be spared most of the wet, or at least so beyond midnight. However rain and rough weather will persist across Australiaâs tropical north on Wednesday, Ms Bradbury said.
Ahead of the celebrations, medical experts have urged partygoers not to start the new year in an emergency room.
Hospitals experience an influx of new year presentations but most are preventable with common sense, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia says.
âUnsurprisingly, over-indulging in alcohol is one of the biggest reasons why patients come to the hospital over the festive season,â president Raymond Lewandowski said.
âThe moral to the story. Take extra care when doing activities you normally wouldnât be doing outside the festive season, and donât use that very moment to act the fool in front of family and friends.â
Illegal fireworks could also cost people more than their life and property, with heavy penalties across the nation.
âThe few moments of entertainment they provide is simply not worth the potential catastrophic consequences,â WorkSafe Victoriaâs Sam Jenkins said.
In his new year message, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said 2025 was an opportunity for Australia to get âback on trackâ as the federal election loomed.
âAustralians have become worse off, and our nation has gone backwards,â Mr Dutton said.
In his New Yearâs message, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wished Australians well and thanked those who worked through the holiday period.
âWe live in the greatest country in the world, and in the year ahead â with new determination and renewed optimism â we can build an even stronger Australia together,â he said.
Sydneyâs famous fireworks will dazzle more than a million revellers flocking to the iconic harbour.
The city will set the tone with 20 minutes of pyrotechnics in two displays, eight water-based firework platforms and new animal-based designs shooting from the top of the Sydney Opera House sails.
More than half a million revellers are set to converge in Melbourne, with fireworks set to light up the sky from 27 points along with 60 laser projections.
About 80,000 individual fireworks will also explode across Brisbaneâs skyline and more up and down Gold and Sunshine coasts.
In Adelaide, fireworks, food trucks and live music are set to lure about 25,000 to the Torrens Riverbank with more than 400,000 people expected to visit the city on New Yearâs Eve.
Perth will be treated to two explosive displays, one at 8.30pm from a barge on the Swan River and a second midnight display to announce the arrival of 2025.
In Tasmania, Launceston will combine fireworks with a festival to showcase more than 40 of the island stateâs fine food and drink producers at the seventh annual BeerFest in Royal Park on New Yearâs Eve.
-AAP
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